Grading Schools

Recently, you may have heard about the release of school grades in the State of Utah.  Over the years, public schools have been graded on at least five different grading structures.  The accountability systems are:  No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Utah Performance Assessment System for Students (UPASS), School improvement plans submitted by Community Councils, Utah Comprehensive Accountability System (UCAS), and SB 271 S3.  Each one of these accountability systems were either required by the Federal Government or the State Office of Education as a result of legislative action.  For the most part, the accountability systems are tied to the end of level Criterion Reference Test (CRT) in math, language arts and science in grades 3-12.  From the CRT test, levels of proficiencies are given to each student indicating that a particular student has passed the content for that grade.  From the CRT testing scores the five different grading structures change dramatically.  Some systems give points for attendance, and other systems may give points for Special Education students, or graduation rates, the list goes on and on.   That is why you may hear one school is in the top ten percent of the State on one test but, may not even be in the top 100 on a different assessment.  It is important to note that I believe accountability for schools is very important and we should be accountable to the public for the quality of education the students receive.  With that said, it is difficult to simplify how each grading system works and what areas a particular assessment is trying to measure.  The latest grading system that was released on September 3, 2013 is SB 217 S3.  As a result of legislation passed, each school was given a letter grade.  On September 30, 2013 the UCAS scores will be released to the public which gives a total point structure for each school but, the two systems do not calculate a student’s growth in the same way so the two assessment systems will give different results.    If you would like additional information on how the SB 217 S3 or UCAS grading systems is calculated, you can access this information on the Garfield School District web page under the Parents & Students tab.  The grades released last week under SB 217 S3 are based on student proficiencies in math, language arts and science.  A growth score is also given and high schools receive points for graduation rates under the term College and Career Readiness.  Of Utah’s 855 traditional and charter schools, 11% received an A, 45% received a B, 30% received a C, 10% received a D, and 4% received an F under the SB 217 S3 school grading system. Escalante High, Boulder Elementary and Antimony Elementary did not receive letter grades because of the low student enrollments. Garfield School District letter grades under SB 271 S3 as follows:

School Name

 Proficiency 

 Growth 

 College & Career Readiness 

 Total Points 

 Percent 

 School Grade 

Escalante Elem

281/300

234/300

NA

515/600

86%

A

Bryce Valley Elem

224/300

128/300

NA

352/600

59%

D

Panguitch Elem

267/300

175/300

NA

442/600

74%

B

Panguitch Middle

267/300

172/300

NA

439/600

73%

B

Escalante High

200/300

113/300

NA

NA

NA

NA

Bryce Valley High

260/300

197/300

138/150

595/750

79%

B

Panguitch High

243/300

171/300

133/150

547/750

73%

B

Antimony Elem

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

Boulder Elem

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

NA

 

 

Every school can improve in one area or another; however, I would like to list some of the positive accomplishments each school in the District achieved in the 2012-2013 school year. Bryce Valley High School is ranked #8 out of 143 high schools in the State in total points.  Bryce Valley High School was 100% proficient in 7th grade mathematics with over 90% proficiencies in 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th grade language arts.  Escalante Elementary ranked #6 out of 712 elementary and middle schools.  Escalante Elementary also had 100 % of their students proficient in 4th and 6thgrade language arts, 4th, 5th and 6th grade mathematics and 6th grade science. Bryce Valley Elementary was 90 % proficient in 3rd grade mathematics. Panguitch Elementary received over 90% proficiency in 3rd, 5th and 6th grade language arts, 5th and 6th grade mathematics and 5th grade science. Panguitch High School received 100% proficiency in 10th grade language arts with over 95% proficiencies in 9th and 11th grade language arts.  Mathematics also increased 12% in algebra I and chemistry increased 35% at Panguitch High School.  Panguitch Middle School received 100% proficiency in 8th grade language arts and over 90% proficiency in 7th grade language arts, 7th grade mathematics, algebra I and 8th grade science.  Antimony received 100% proficiency in 6th grade language arts, 5th and 6th grade mathematics, and 5th and 6th grade science.  Boulder Elementary was 100% proficient in 3rd, 4th, and 6th grade language arts, 3rd, 4th and 6th grade mathematics and 5th and 6th grade science.  Escalante High School received 100% proficiencies in 7th and 10th grade language arts and over 90% proficiency in 8th grade language arts.  I would like to thank all of the teachers, para educators and students for their hard work in the classroom.  I would also like to thank all of the parents and individuals who helped students outside of the classroom.  It takes all of us working together to achieve academic success.

–Superintendent Ben Dalton

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